Chapter 314 05.0313: "Rescue in Water"

"Warning: It has been detected that the machine is in an extremely cold area and the internal circulation temperature control device has reached its maximum power.

The machine soul has sensed the abnormal fluctuation of your body temperature. Please leave the extremely cold area quickly! 』

The insulation layer and emergency heating cycle inside the power armor protected her from hypothermia and freezing to death in a short period of time, and the closed airtight helmet also prevented her from choking on the ice-water mixture.

But the temperature that felt close to zero degrees still made her shiver and get goose bumps all over her body.

She knew very well that she had to paddle to the surface of the lake as soon as possible, otherwise with her skin temperature around zero degrees, she would not be able to move for long before her limbs became numb and she would eventually lose the ability to move and sink to the bottom of the lake.

One side of the gravity parachute bounced a little before falling and then broke completely. She could only rely on the backpack with half power left for emergency ascent.

『Height from water surface: 15 meters』

『Height from water surface: 10 meters』

『Height from water surface: 6 meters』

[It’s almost there, it’s almost there!]
She bit her lower lip, which was gradually losing sensation and turning as purple as her pupils, and slid upwards with all her might, trying to make up for the lost power with a standard swimming posture.

But the drag of the planet's gravity on her made her feel as if she was dragging a locked lead ball under her feet. The damaged gravity backpack was not only unhelpful, but also became a burden.

『Height from water surface: 8 meters』

[The distance has become farther...]
Just by paddling a little slower, she sank two meters.

She had to force herself to paddle faster, but the intense underwater exercise soon made her hips and arms feel strangely sore.

"Warning: You are suffering from hypothermia, please leave the danger zone as soon as possible."

"Warning: High and cold temperature, -22 degrees. To ensure normal operation, the gravity parachute equipment has activated emergency heating, and the remaining energy is 41%."

Louise did not give up any hope and struggled upwards desperately, but the result went against her will. Her limbs wrapped in the power armor became heavier and heavier. The cold and pain gradually cut off her perception of her limbs. For a moment, she could not even feel anything except the movement of her eyeballs.

Then, even breathing became difficult.

『Height from water surface: 10 meters』

『Height from water surface: 12 meters』

『Height from water surface: 15 meters』

His hands and feet seemed to have turned into ice sculptures and fallen into the abyss below, but his brain still continued to send signals to fight back, and the number on the depth gauge on the screen in front of him kept getting bigger and bigger.

Gradually, in the eyepiece that was getting dimmer and dimmer due to the decreasing light due to the continuous descent, she seemed to see a trace of deadly and beautiful purple crystal spreading like a spider web in her pupils.

At last, she saw a huge black shadow getting closer and closer, but her dull brain and eyes could no longer recognize what it was. She could only perceive the warning red light in front of the eyepiece continuing to flash.

"Warning: Large predator detected approaching."

Louise tried to use her numb limbs to pick up the Hell Carbine in front of her, but the severe hypothermia completely shattered her final struggle. Her body wrapped in the power armor twitched slightly for a moment, and then continued to sink naturally.

[Sorry, Horatio, I'm holding you back...]
In her last remaining vision, she saw another shadow, a human-shaped shadow, with an iron halo glowing behind it.

"Louise, hold on. I swore today that I would take you to the moon. Don't let me break my promise." His firm and anxious voice came from the communicator in her ear.

Horatio dived into the water, and the icy temperature made him shiver.

"Warning: The machine is detected to be in an extremely cold area. The internal circulation temperature control device has reached the maximum power. The machine soul has sensed the abnormal fluctuation of your body temperature. Please quickly leave the extremely cold area!"

Then, a warning window popped up in front of his eyepiece.

Activate: Power Fist

"Power overload: Overloaded, emergency heating in progress."

He pulled the power of Iron Hand to its fullest at once, throwing out all the reserved energy.

Soon, the water near him began to evaporate, and countless bubbles appeared briefly.

The water temperature around him began to rise. Although it was only a dozen degrees, it kept his body at least from freezing.

He paddled hard underwater and saw an eight-eyed catfish over 30 meters long with a deformed and ugly appearance swimming towards Louise.

The monster opened its huge mouth covered with fine serrations, and the water carried the motionless Louise towards its mouth.

A flash of blood appeared on Horatio's iron hand, and the Holy Blood Chainsaw Sword materialized. With the help of the gravity umbrella, he rushed towards the strange fish.

hum!
He grasped the handle of the chainsaw sword with both hands and stabbed the high-speed rotating sword teeth into the fat head of the strange fish, causing the strange fish to shut up in pain.

For a moment, the blood dyed the surrounding water red. The eight-eyed monster fish swayed violently, and its huge body stirred up strong waves.

Horatio did not linger in the fight, but quickly avoided the impact, dived down at high speed, and held Louise who was still sinking with one hand.

The information transmitted by the power armor indicated that the wearer's body had entered protective shock, but at least she still had vital signs.

The strange fish rushed towards him again. Horatio swung the chainsaw sword. Although it was inconvenient to wield it, he used the underwater maneuverability of the gravity parachute to rise and fall nimbly and dive under the belly of the strange fish.

He raised the sword and activated the serrations, stabbing it into the fish's belly. Then, the gravity parachute operated at full power, pushing Horatio forward.

Wherever it passed, blood clots exploded, and the furious machine soul drove the rapidly rotating single-molecular sawtooth, drawing a line of death on the belly of the fish, completely disemboweling the strange fish.

Several dark shadows appeared from all around again. Horatio gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. He really couldn't understand how prosperous and rich the ecosystem in the lake of this agricultural world had to be to feed these huge creatures.

"Warning: Gravity backpack energy reserve 20%"

Just as a strange fish rushed towards Horatio, the wreckage of the Valkyrie fighter completely melted the ice where it was located, and the entire body sank completely into the water, hitting the charging strange fish and carrying it deeper into the water.

"Maid K2B17, detected that the organic individual master is in a level one life risk, immediately respect the preset protection protocol." A maid machine servant crawled out from the opened tail cabin of the machine body. It was the one that Horatio accidentally activated at that time.

This robot was not affected by the extreme cold at all. It moved flexibly underwater without any protection, attracting the attention of the strange fish and covering his evacuation.

Horatio seized the opportunity and accelerated his ascent with Louise.
-
A few minutes later, on the ice.

"Huaaah!" Horatio used his left hand wrapped in power armor to lift Louise onto the ice.

The iron hand on the right was steaming with white steam, clamping the corpse of a small strange fish and throwing it directly onto the ice.

Then he grabbed the ice with both hands, did a push-up, and got out of the water.

A smaller strange fish jumped out of the water, opened its huge mouth that could accommodate a person, and tried to swallow him into its stomach.

"Fuck you!" Horatio, who had already sat on the ice, gritted his teeth, twisted his waist and swung his legs, and kicked the fish on the head with his powered iron boots, kicking the strange fish back into the water.

The strange fish corpse next to it spat out a bloody package, which fell beside him.

That was the field camp bag he carried, which contained an insulated sleeping bag and some necessary survival supplies.

Then the maid robot servant covered in mucus was vomited out along with a large pool of blood.

"The risk has been temporarily lifted and the alert protocol is being implemented."

The maid robot, covered in catfish blood, stood up shakily, its neck rotating mechanically.

The maid outfit was stained with blood and was in tatters. The porcelain-white skin showed through the gaps between the stains. The inhuman feeling when moving made this robot look like a doll in a haunted mansion in some horror movies.

This was the product of Father Latti's personal hobby. In any case, Horatio could not understand the logic of designing a robot servant to be so like a real person. The uncanny valley effect it caused had already given him a great mental shock.

He held Louise in one hand and dragged the camp bag and the catfish's carcass with the other, and walked away in the wind and snow.
-
After an unknown amount of time, Louise slowly opened her eyes.

She woke up, or to be more precise, she woke up from the cold.

Subconsciously moving her hands and feet, she found that her limbs had regained consciousness. She was now lying in a relatively warm sleeping bag, with the crackling sound of a campfire, waves of heat, and... the aroma of food beside her.

The belly growled loudly.

This indecent voice instantly brought a hint of color to her pale cheeks.

She sat up slowly. The power armor and the three-layer defense layer that was soaked by water had been removed and placed aside. At this time, she was only wearing a layer of underwear, which was still a little damp.

Then, a biting cold wind blew in her face, making her shiver and sneeze despite being still wet.

"What a coincidence! You woke up just as this kebab was grilled. You must be hungry." Horatio's clear voice came with a relaxed and humorous tone.

As her mind gradually became clear, she slowly turned her head and looked at the young man sitting by the fire.

A feeling of shyness surged into Louise's heart as Horatio teased her, making her face, which had already regained its color, even redder.

"Hmm..." The temperature was so cold that Louise, who was lightly dressed, held tightly onto the edge of her sleeping bag.

She was usually so cool, but she rarely let out a cute cry and trembled like a little animal, and her pair of purple eyes flickered in the light.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"A cave 10 kilometers away from the landing point. Thanks to the Emperor, we accidentally crashed not far from the target, and the original preset location was even further away.

Fortunately, the communication is smooth. I have contacted Collingwood and confirmed the assembly point after dawn. They are a little far away from us, but not too far. I asked them to find a place to camp and rest tonight. "

He handed Louise a grilled fish fillet stuck on a stripped branch.

"Aren't you cold? God Emperor, in this weather, I can't even feel the heat of the campfire if I stay away."

Louise stretched out her hand with great effort, her fingers trembling constantly, and took the crispy and browned grilled fish fillet. Even though her body temperature had warmed up, her limbs were still somewhat out of control.

To be honest, Horatio himself was freezing cold.

In this environment where the outdoor temperature is close to minus 30 degrees Celsius, the warming effect of the power armor is almost non-existent and the energy consumption is high. It is really not worth it to activate it in the absence of supplies.

"We lost our heater and cold-proof tent, and we only have one sleeping bag, but it's OK for just one night. We can restock our supplies tomorrow after we meet up with the rest of the team."

"This sleeping bag should be big enough for two people. Didn't we learn in the wilderness survival training at Zhongsi College that if we encounter a situation where camping survival supplies are lost, we should huddle together for warmth to increase our survival rate?" She ate small bites of grilled fish fillet while gesturing at the sleeping bag, estimating that although the freed-up space was not large, it could barely fit one person.

Although she was a Cadian and had been taught from childhood that men and women were equal and subject to the same blood tax, she was worried that Horatio would still mind that she was a girl.

"Is this really okay? I'm afraid you might mind." Horatio snorted as he looked at the teardrop mole at the corner of her eye.

Louise blinked and chuckled, "How could that be."

Then she moved, leaving space for another person.

"Go to bed early and get enough rest, as we have to carry out a raid tomorrow." She was so hungry that she ate the fish fillet in two bites, patted the empty space, and said nonchalantly as if she had regained her usual coolness.

It would look even more like one if it weren't for its cute puffy cheeks and chewing like a hamster.

Then, her graceful throat moved, and she let out a long sigh of satisfaction as her stomach was filled with protein and fat.

"Thank you, Horatio. It feels so good to be alive and fighting alongside you. Thank you so much."

Horatio lowered his head and laughed, then tossed the folded wood into the fire and began to take off his power armor.

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(End of this chapter)